How does the verb tense affect the sentence?

Answer 1

The verb tense tells when the action happened.

If you want to write about something that happened yesterday you would use past tense.

This sentence is past tense:

I ran to school.

Because the verb ran is past tense then we know this is something that happened in the past and is now finished.

This sentence is in present tense:

I run to school.

Because the verb run is present and there is only one verb we know it is about something that 'I' do again and again - this is a habit.

So by just changing the verb in this sentence we can talk about something that is finished or something that is done again and again.

This next sentence has two verbs. One verb (was) tells us the action happened in the past and the continuous verb (running) tells us the action happened for a length of time;

I was running to school.

Usually this kind of sentence sets the scene/background for something else that happens during the continuous action. So this sentence would make more sense if we add:

I was running to school and I saw a car crash.

So these verb tenses allow us to talk about an action that took some time (was running) and another action that happened during the 'running' (saw).

These are just a few examples of how the verb tense affects the sentence.

Answer 2

The verb tense affects the sentence by indicating the time at which the action or state of being occurred. It provides information about whether the action is happening in the present, past, or future, as well as the duration or completion of the action. The verb tense choice can also impact the overall meaning and clarity of the sentence.